BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Britishisms "Creeping" into American English

Lieutenant C. · September 28, 2012 4:16 am

Article here

Your typical Yahoo! News fodder. I love how they make this sound like it's a recent phenomenon. Is there seriously anything else you can do with a flight besides booking it? This could have been an interesting article, but then they had to go off on some obscure tangent about Webster's Dictionary...

Davina · September 28, 2012 7:32 am

My comment into Britishisms creeping into American English is: about time too as we have had a floodgate open with the reverse influence upon British English for years now.

Wholocked · September 28, 2012 8:29 am

Hrm most of those phrases I thought were general use. I mean, what else would you say aside from "move house"? Or "the best bit"? WTF?

Twee isn't very used in Aus but we know what it means. We generally also say "use by date" rather than "sell by date" (since the description is more accurate!)

kazza474 · September 28, 2012 10:54 am

I can't stop laughing at the title; what a stupid thing to say!
By merely looking at the word " English" , it may give the dope a clue as to where it originated from.
If they want their 'language' unsullied maybe they should start by calling it by something that identifies it with their country.

*shakes head*
There is such garbage passed off as journalism these days.

NW16XE · September 28, 2012 11:17 am

Davina wrote:
My comment into Britishisms creeping into American English is: about time too as we have had a floodgate open with the reverse influence upon British English for years now.

Quite right. Happy to do my bit.

Sentimental Pulse · September 28, 2012 11:27 am

kazza474 wrote:
I can't stop laughing at the title; what a stupid thing to say!
By merely looking at the word " English" , it may give the dope a clue as to where it originated from.
If they want their 'language' unsullied maybe they should start by calling it by something that identifies it with their country.

*shakes head*
There is such garbage passed off as journalism these days.

Who are "they", kazza, we poor unwashed colonials? By the way I thought you were Australian. what mean we, kimosabe? As for myself, this American has not seen any evidence of any Britishisms creeping into the American vernacular. I wish it would. We need a touch of class.

kazza474 · September 28, 2012 11:31 am

Sentimental Pulse wrote:
Who are "they", kazza, we poor unwashed colonials?...

Err no, I meant 'they' as in the person who wrote that article.
I give up.

Sam · September 28, 2012 7:08 pm

Wholocked wrote:
Hrm most of those phrases I thought were general use. I mean, what else would you say aside from "move house"? Or "the best bit"? WTF?

Twee isn't very used in Aus but we know what it means. We generally also say "use by date" rather than "sell by date" (since the description is more accurate!)

For "move house" we just say "moving". As for "the best bit", Americans almost never say "bit". Instead we say "the best part".

We use both "use by" and "sell by" because they are two different things.

Whoever wrote that article did basically no research though haha. We've always said "to book [a flight]"......And I've never heard any American say "keen on", "do the washing up", "chat-up", or "cheeky". Could just be because of where I live though.

What is "twee" and "the long game"?

Lieutenant C. · October 1, 2012 1:35 am

I think Yahoo will hire just about anybody to write their news articles. Seventy-five percent of the stuff they churn out is pure baloney. That long-winded explanation about how we use British phrases because we think they sound "posh," for example? Sure, that might be true, but it still doesn't explain why we latch on to some and not others. I use "bit" and "chat-up" quite a lot, and my grandmother was fond of "keen." Although, apparently "keen" was an early-to-mid 20th century equivalent of "cool," so maybe that shouldn't count.

The one I don't recognize is "twee." Is that an actual word, or just shoddy writing/editing?

Davina · October 1, 2012 7:23 am

Twee is a real word. It is defined as: overly dainty, cute, sentimental, sweet or nice. It is a pejorative term in the UK.

Caroll · October 3, 2012 12:31 am

I think (or find ) British accent very beautiful, I wish I could learn B. E. during classes, sometimes I mix the two forms, because I learn some words from films (or movies ).

veecee · October 4, 2012 10:48 pm

Yes, amazing how English has crept into English!

But I have to admit, that since Sherlock and this forum, I am just dying to say "whilst" in a conversation.

Last edited by veecee (October 4, 2012 10:48 pm)

Sam · October 4, 2012 10:51 pm

My mom said "it's so bloody hot today". All those Harry Potter movies

Davina · October 5, 2012 7:45 am

Oh do Veecee, if only to see the puzzlement on the face of others. Good old HP (sauce) Ron Weasley (Rupert, another ginger god) says it so well. Bloody used to be really quite a rude word here, years ago, when I was little but it isn't anymore.

Sam · October 5, 2012 8:30 pm

^ Oh yeah, I heard it was rude and was shocked to hear little Ron say it in the first movie. Good to know it's not anymore.

Davina · October 6, 2012 7:01 am

It is just a little bit rude here now. I guess elderly people would still not use it.

NW16XE · October 6, 2012 10:30 am

Davina wrote:
It is just a little bit rude here now. I guess elderly people would still not use it.

Which is partly what's so funny about 'What have you done to my bloody wall?!?' in TGG, you don't expect Mrs Hudson to say that!

Davina · October 6, 2012 11:38 am

You can tell she's really cross by her using that word.

veecee · October 6, 2012 8:33 pm

Sam wrote:
^ Oh yeah, I heard it was rude and was shocked to hear little Ron say it in the first movie. Good to know it's not anymore.

Yeah, me, too. Are there other such expressions we should be aware of?

Davina · October 7, 2012 12:03 pm

Fire some at me and the other Brits on the forum and we'll let you know. PM if you really aren't sure.